Agosta thrilled to be drafted by favorite team

By Jay Lee / MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- St. Mary's pitcher Martin Agosta has too many memories as a Giants fan to count.

They include spending summer nights on his Sacramento patio with his dad watching Giants games on TV and hopping into a car with his friends moments after the Giants won the 2010 World Series to take the 30-minute drive from St. Mary's to San Francisco to celebrate.

So when the Giants selected Agosta with 24th pick in the second round of the First-Year Player Draft on Tuesday, Agosta was nearly left speechless with excitement.

"It's hard to describe into words," Agosta said. "It's a complete honor to even be drafted, no matter what team, but it's an even bigger honor to be taken by one that I am a huge fan of."

The right-hander went 9-2 with a 2.18 ERA in his junior season in 2012, and the 6-foot-1 Agosta has impressed the movement on his mid-90s fastball, as well as his changeup and curveball.

"We're happy he's happy," Giants scouting director John Barr said. "It's nice to take someone who is a fit, especially a hometown kid that's a fan of the team."

Some scouts have pointed out Agosta's limited height and frame, but he doesn't have to look too far into the Giants' rotation for an example of an undersized Major League pitcher.

"I've gotten the most inspiration watching Tim Lincecum pitch these last few years and see what he's been able to do," Agosta said of the 5-foot-11 Lincecum. "I think now you're starting to see more pitchers with smaller frames who are a little bit shorter who have been able to pitch well."

Barr said the team never had any concerns about Agosta's size.

"We don't view him in that light at all," Barr said. "From what we saw of him, we liked his arm and his stuff right away."

Agosta said that he had little contact with the team leading up to the Draft and that he was surprised when his father called him last week to say that he had been mentioned as someone the Giants were possibly interested in during a televised Giants game.

"I said to my dad, 'There's no way, you've got to be messing around with me,'" Agosta said. "That was really the only indication that the Giants had any interest in me."

As Agosta makes his way up the Giants' farm system, he could be playing near his hometown of Sacramento with potential future stops at Class A San Jose and Triple-A Fresno, with the ultimate destination being AT&T Park.

"It'll be fun no matter where I go, but it'll be pretty special to play at those places," Agosta said. "Hopefully I can make my way up there pretty quickly."

Jay Lee is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.